Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939-1961

Winks relates how faculty members at Yale adjusted their research to assist in military intelligence during World War II and why a large percentage of Yale graduates were recruited into the Office of Strategic Services. He then describes the valuable work many of these men performed. Included is the story of the controversial Donald Downes, class of '26, who the author believes came close to being the perfect spy. The most interesting figurein a book crowded with themis James Jesus Angleton, class of '41, a legendary theoretician ""who brooded longest, and perhaps with the greatest penetration, over the specialized methodolgy of counterintelligence.'' In relating Angleton's complex story, Winks analyzes the CIA's ``Israeli connection,'' the Great Mole Hunt, the Church committee hearings and the development of policy differences within the intelligence community that led to Angleton's downfall as chief of U.S. counterintelligence. There is much new material here, based on interviews and recently declassified files. Winks is a Yale history professor. Illustrations. (August 18)